Ricochet
by Dragyn
Summary: A warning. An anxious heart. A working materia. A fish. The ricocheting factor of Tifa's life and well being. Not the usuall Cloud/Tifa.
1. Prologue - Bahamut

**Prologue: Bahamut**  
  
Bahamut is summoned.  
  
A sound like no other splits the air. Like a blade it comes, with a sudden roar and tremble. Like an explosion, it carries throughout. Then the sound evanesces, like it came. With an ending to match that of it's dawn.  
  
Like everything in the world, it is far from over.  
  
Bahamut is coming.  
  
The faintly blue sky looks calm and completely undisturbed. The clouds hang over Terra Firma with no special reason. Just to drift until their demise. But death shall come as suddenly as anyone expected, death shall come then.  
  
The extended black shape makes it's way through, just as a blade through flesh. With one powerful pump of it's wings it destroys the clouds. They disappear as if they were never there.  
  
Another beat of leather, the creature draws nearer. Twisting through the now empty sky. A lone dark shape in the atmosphere. It now spiraling, appearing out of control, speeding like Ultimate Destructive Magic itself. Like Meteor, it comes.  
  
With a careening jolt, the dragon spins into focus. Into the eyes of it's enemy. With a thunder like crack, impact is made, and the dragon lands. Unfurling wings to full extent and lifting head to the sky of three tree tall, Bahamut looks down.  
  
Bahamut is here.  
  
Spines wave randomly as it pulls back its head in preparation. The great arms tense as razor claws dig into the soft earth. The tail lashes against the floor of the battlefield.  
  
Energy comes. Life force from everything living, and everything dead. Knowledge of the trees, of animal, of people past. Power of the mind becomes power of destruction. The energy comes to Bahamut, to it's maw. It does not move.  
  
The energy becomes greater, stronger, all the more pernicious. It swirls with colors unknown. It churns. It is ready. The dragon is poised.  
  
Bahamut is ready.  
  
The creature's opponent did not hear the blast. It was immense. Shattering like nothing known to man or beast... only Bahamut. If there was any pain, it would be great.   
  
And then, with a flash, it's gone. The air stands still, as if nothing happened. Nothing was left behind by the dragon. Nothing at all.   
  
Bahamut is gone.  
  
The faint red orb, glows steadily and dims into nothing. A calm status, an inactive status. It slowly blears into a maroon sheen, as it softly hums with energy in the hilt of the buster sword as the man moves on.  



	2. Chapter I - Those Three Years

**Chapter I: Those Three Years  
**  
The musty haze seemed to fall even heavier that night. The smell of smoke along with viper strands of it rose above her head like a collection of memories wanted to be forgotten and emotions never wanted to be explored again.  
  
The smell of alcohol hung loosely, just as always. In the distance, a pulse of voices mixed in with the music in a subconscious murmur. Every now and then, drunken laughter would kick up like the retort of gun shot. It would die down, after several minutes sometimes. It was depressing, really.  
  
With an untouched drink it her hand she stared off into the distance. Some who walked by wondered what exactly she was staring at, but most of them wondered if they could get her in bed that night. Many dirty questions popped up, but the dark-haired woman responded to none of them.  
  
To be honest, she was quite disgusted with how things worked in upper Junon. Do what you are good at, and be sucsessful. Some women were good at that, or they never tried at anything else. Morals and a conscience were useless and often got in the way. Maybe she could drown her sorrows in that kind of life. Drown herself in the warm seas of alcohol.  
  
Tifa Lockheart stared at her drink intensely. She was disgusted with herself. How could she think those kind of thoughts? Did she not swear all those years ago in the slums of Midgar, where that business thrived, that she would never result to that? Did she not pledge that here strong morals would stay intact, through every swing of her life?  
  
But the promises, they were all childish, premature ideas from a lost girl. A lost girl who was too naive to realize what survival was. A small person in a big world, with millions of other people. Millions of chances for sucess, and millions of chances for disappointment.  
  
But had she really changed? Wasn't she still overly hopeful, setting herself up for utter letdown? Weren't her bothersome morals still intact? She still was a child. A part deep in her mind still wanted to go back to the cool moutain days of her childhood. Her days in Nibelhiem.  
  
Her gaze hardened on her glass. What was she doing, thinking that far back? It was about a decade since that town was destroyed, and how she hoped, all of her feelings of it also.  
  
The memories, however, always stayed. In her horrid years in Midgar, where she spent endless hours comparing the two towns. She finally decided that Nibelheim should forever be behind her. Dispite her efforts, she could never completely forget.  
  
Tifa let her fingers peal off of her glass slowly. It fell to the floor with a crash, but she didn't hear, her blank gaze still rested where the drink used to be, as if nothing happened at all.  
  
Thoughts of Nibelheim and just the past in general were the most painful of any thought. They also seemed the most abundant, especially in the last three years.   
  
Cloud. She always was drawn back to thoughts of him. How could she not? He had been gone missing for... well, she tried not to keep track. She had no sign of him being alive, or dead for that matter. He came back after a seven year gap, didn't he? Three years didn't seem too long compared the time before. He could still return. She could have another chance.  
  
How many times has that exact thought crossed er mind in the last three years? Too many times, she reminded herself. Every time she wondered when she would stop hoping, pining for a man that was probably dead.  
  
It was Midgar all over again.  
  
Sitting there, in a bar in upper Junon, she wondered this, but for the first time, she believed she could put it behind herself. Let memories or old times be just that, memories. Time in past to look back on. Like photos.  
  
TIfa's mind suddenly drifted to her other friends. As expected, they all left on their seperate routes, not really keeping in touch. The last of them she had actually heard from was Barret, but that was nearly two years ago. Tifa suposed that each of her team mates when back to respective hometowns. Vincent, well, who knows where he was.  
  
For Tifa? She half expected herself to be drawn to Kalm. It's quiet atmoshere was a lot like Nibelheim. Barret now lived there. She could be near one of her closest friends. But Kalm was too like Nibelheim. She tried living there, for about four months, but it somehow, it didn't quite work out.  
  
She lived in many different towns these last three years, trying to find her spot. When she lived in Midgar, she didn't have much of a choice. Although her bar was sucessful, it never pooled enough funds to get her out of there. Now, after Meteor, her share of gil was more than enough to live her whole life on.  
  
Tifa had never found anything of quite comfort. She ended up coming to Junon. The largest city now, since Midgar was out of commision. It had a very slum like atmosphere, some of the same principles and every day life. A big city to get lost in. A big city to loose your fears in.  
  
Her gaze slowly drifted to the nothingness she had been staring at before. Drowning her dreams in the bar.   
She looked down, still half heartidly, at the floor where the alcohol lay spilt. Funny thing that Tifa had been a bartender for a good portion of her life, but hadn't consumed more than a few drinks herself.  
  
She stood up and stretched. Since her last adventures with the others, she had changed her attire. Junon's weather was completely unpredictible. One day, it could be sunny and as hot as hell, the next, raining like no tomorrow.   
  
So that was that. As of that night, Tifa's past was officially her past. Everyone - especially Cloud - would be in her heart forever, but no longer part of her mind. She would live her life out as Tifa, no longer a one of the saviors of the Planet.  
  
The smoke and alcohol in the air mixed with the darkness made it harder than ever to see. Many darks shapes moved around rather aimlessly. Drunken conversations went on, but they seemed far away. Tifa looked around, suddenly aware of her surroundings.  
  
However dark it may have been that night, it was impossible to mistake what Tifa saw. Among the blurred shapes and bland colors, there was the unmistakable splash of blonde. The familiar spiky head of hair leaving the bar, quickly disappearing out of sight. The man had left her view as quickly as he had entered.  
  
So much for putting Cloud behind her, Tifa thought as she sprung to her feet and followed.  



End file.
